First, OldHippie.
Do YOUR OWN research. Click on the provided link and find out WHERE 2/3 of JW's are females. (It's not that hard.)
Second, I agree with Tina (although not in such erudite and technical terms!). I think many women are looking for protection and a way to keep themselves and their children safe in the world. Whether it is Jehovah and/or the patriarchal elders who provide that protection, it is a cozy and reassuring feeling to think that if you just follow the rules, all will turn out okay in the end.
Among JWs there is an expected mode of behavior. If you take on your assigned role, there is a good likelihood of organizational success. Yes, even for lowly women! WE got stroked for our humble spirit and willingness to give, while the GUYS got stroked for being spiritual and willingness to lead.
Among JWs you are supposedly surrounded by benevolent, honest-hearted people. Who wouldn't want to associate with suchlike ones? Who wouldn't want that for a role-model for her children? Who wouldn't like to think that what she was sacrificing would assure both herself and her children everlasting life in paradise? And a moral social network NOW? Where else would you be able to run to an authority figure and have that figure (as desired) AUTHORITATIVELY tell you what you need to do? And all of it spiritually correct so that you have the inner validation of being a GOOD person, RIGHT with God?
These women tend to marry or to have been married to males who are also the Protector/Caretaker type. Men who have a narrowly defined concept of what a wife/mother is supposed to be and their role in the household. Which concept is, of course, conservatively partriarchial, dovetailing nicely with the JW religion which reinforces the 'rightness' of their role in the marriage.
Or else, they have married wimps or abusers who are the antithesis of the Protector/Caretaker. Husbands who have the women feeling so insecure that the Watch Tower relgion is a refuge for them, providing them with the stability and answers they need to cope with everyday life. It becomes a respite from the absolute craziness or desperateness that their lives have evidenced. Only within Jehovah's 'loving organization' can they feel 'safe'.
So Tina, to my mind, is also correct when she remarks that JW women abdicate their personal power. They do so willingly, IMO. And when they get to the point that they tire of that loss of personal power, they finally get up and leave.
At great cost.
Because women DO form emotionally intimate relationships more often than men, and breaking the ties that bind is an enormous emotional burden.
Sometimes, though, one just has to admit to having been woefully, stupidly WRONG, and carry on from there.
Still livin' in 'Heartbreak Hotel',
outnfree
In dealing with fear, the way out is in -- Sheldon Kopp